In broadband transport systems that simultaneously broadcast signals from remote users to a receiving station, a plurality of reverse paths simultaneously transmit data to the receiving station. Each reverse path includes a transport link between a remote unit and a host unit. The section of the reverse path that includes the remote unit and the host unit amplifies the signal received at the remote unit. The host units are in communication with the receiving station. In some cases the host units are co-located with the receiving station. The transport link can be any type of communication medium such as an optical fiber, a coaxial cable or a free-space optical link.
The signals from a plurality of host units are summed and provided to the receiving station. If one of the transport links loses gain, the receiving station will not necessarily be able to determine there is a loss in one link, since the relative drop in power is within the noise level of the receiving station. If the receiving station does, however, detect a loss in gain in one or more of the transport links, the receiving station is not able to distinguish which of the many transport links is degraded. Thus, one or more of the remote units in communication with a receiving station can experience a degraded communication and the controllers at the receiving station will be unaware of the problem. This can lead to a poor performing transport system and customer dissatisfaction. Moreover, if the receiving station recognizes that signals received from the host unit are degraded or inadequately amplified, each reverse path is subjected to troubleshooting procedures to determine which path is degraded. This response is time consuming and expensive.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for monitoring gain in remote reverse link radio frequency stages in simulcast architectures.